Plum Blossom: The Musings of a Cat
by Lola the Coconut
Summary: Miyuki the cat leads a simple life. However, in that time, her mind runs, rides, and reels. Join her as she contemplates what is, was, and will be. ONESHOT


Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize is likely not to be mine.

**Plum Blossom: The Musings of a Cat**

Today was a day that started like any other. I woke up to a bright stream of sunlight, yawned, stretched, and blinked. Then, of course, like any other say, _she_ showed up.

"Good morning, Miyuki dear, and how are we this morning?" she asked, scratching me under the chin – or, more like attempting to draw blood from my fur with her infernally long fingernails.

I respond to her question with a complacent mew, which, thankfully, satisfies her, and she goes tottering off to her 'plants'. As I saunter in the opposite direction. I contemplate my situation, in the same manner in which I do so every day. Perhaps today will be the day that I take action; today will be the day that I leave that well-meaning, but insufferable, old woman. However, as with every day, I decide not. Besides that endless source of annoyance, I have no other real reason to leave.

Before I can even twitch my whiskers, she's upon me again. "Ooh, my darling Miyuki, you're looking thin!" she coos, as she has done daily ever since I bounded, full of life and optimism, into her life. How young and naïve I was then. I had believed that an aging, kindly herbalist would make the perfect master for a couple decades. Oh, how wrong I'd been; it's been five years, and already I feel like killing myself sometimes.

I look into that wrinkled face and yowl. Perhaps, this morning, she will understand the meaning beneath the sound, that is: "please leave me to my own devices; I am fully capable to hunt and catch my own meal, thank you very much." Again, she fails to understand.

"All right, Miyuki, today, for breakfast, I will prepare, hmm…" She pauses, gazing over her vast menagerie of plants. "How about some nice cherry root paste?" My eyes widen in horror. No, no, no…anything but that. Cherry root paste, despite its marginally pleasing name, is the vilest substance on this, or possibly any other, planet.

To my surprise, she chuckles. Hmm…perhaps she _can_ understand me…

"No, no, no, silly me, I forgot that we ran out yesterday. What about ginger, peppercorn, and lychee?"

Nope, I was wrong, on two fronts; she cannot understand me, and cherry root paste isn't the worst substance in the world. At least I can swallow the paste quickly and be done with it. The vile concoction, on the other hand, is slimy, crunchy, and leaves a disgusting aftertaste. The mere though of it makes me gag, which is what I promptly do.

"My poor, dear Miyuki! Do you have a hairball?"

Once more, she completely misses the point. At this point, I simply give up, shake my white, fluffy head, and curl up in a sunbeam, to miserably prepare myself for whatever brew the old lady will present me with in a few minutes. Luckily, I am soon gazing into a bowl filled with a mixture of greens, and a few specks of orange; jasmine leaves and persimmon. One of her more bearable dishes.

I scarf it all down as fast as possible, and let out a grateful meow, not grateful for the food in general, but in thanks for her not giving me something that tasted worse. She responds by raking the top of my head with her talons, and returning to her plants. I, in the meantime, settle at the base of a plum tree, and meditate upon a passing butterfly.

By all rights, I should not even be here. My original self died several centuries ago, when Avatar Roku was still a child. I was once a proud tiger-bear, alpha female of my pack. Then came the day when I sacrificed my life to protect one of the cubs, and several human children, including the Avatar, from a village fire. Smiling, he had patted my head as I lay, drained of energy, and in doing so, he had unknowingly granted me favor, so that I became one of the animals in the Spirit World who were capable of human speech.

There, I lived, being slowly reunited with my family as one by one, their mortal lives passed. I was settled, I was content. In a fair and just world, I should still be there. However, one single, dangerous sentence, one confrontation with the evil, but powerful Koh, somehow left me back on earth, this time in the body of a mere housecat.

The butterfly has become invisible from my point of view. I gaze mournfully at my white, puffy tail, and sigh as best I could with a housecat's lungs. That tail used to be magnificent, sleek, and gorgeously painted in orange and black. I used to be depended on and respected; I had cubs to care for, and wise spirits to converse with. But now, now I depended on a (probably) senile woman to feed me with disgusting herbal concoctions. I sigh again, and cross my front paws.

"Miyuki! Time for lunch!"

Has the morning passed already? I glance at my master, but seeing as she still seems to be gathering plants for whatever it is she plans on making into a wooden bowl, I believe that I still might have some time. I hop up, uncrossing my legs, and begin my short promenade around the greenhouse.

Suddenly, the bushes rustle, and in runs a bald boy with a blue arrow on his head, straight towards me. I mew, and quickly jump out of the way and onto a nearby table, lest I get run over.

"Hello!" the boy pants, "I'm sorry to barge in like this, but I need some medicine for my friends. They have fevers and they've been coughing and -"

"Settle down, young man." She smiles complacently, in the same way she always does. "Your friends are going to be fine. I've been up here for over forty years you know, used to be others, but they all left years ago." Great. Whenever any other human being appears, she starts rambling without end. "Now it's just me and Miyuki."

Noticing her hand reach out towards my head, I start to flinch, but then I notice that her fingernails are blunt; maybe she broke them on some tree bark. For once, the petting isn't painful, and I find myself purring.

"That's nice," the boy replies.

" Wounded Earth Kingdom troops still come by now and again, brave boys, and thanks to my remedies they always leave in better shape they when they arrive," she continues to ramble, while I shift my gaze from the mixing bowl in her hands to the boy. Why does he seem so familiar?

"That's nice," the boy repeats. "Are you almost done?"

"Hold on, I just need to add one last ingredient." She begins to examine the shrubbery around her. "Oh, sandalwood…" I shudder, hoping that she doesn't plan to put it in my lunch; sandalwood is terribly bitter. "Oh, er, uh, that won't do…banana leaf?" Another bitter plant. "Ah, nope, uh, ginger root, uh uh, oh where is that pesky little plant?" By now, I feel like passing out, listening to all of the disgusting ingredients that she was considering. After what seems like an eternity, she crows: "Here's what I was looking for! Plum blossom!" I feel like dancing with glee; plum blossom has a sweet, light, tangy taste that is excellent in almost every dish.

"Finally!" the boy says, exasperatedly lifting his head off the table. I tilt my head at his odd behavior. The boy moves to grab the bowl from her hands. "Thanks for all your help!"

Suddenly, she hits the boy on the wrist, knocking loose his grip on the bowl. "Hands off! What do you think you're doing?" I jump off the table. When my master gets angry, she can become ferocious.

"Taking the cure to my friends!" the boy protests.

Out of the blue, she laughs. "This isn't a cure, it's Miyuki's dinner." She places the bowl in front of me, while I eat and purr. "Plum blossom is her favorite." Honestly, I am surprised that she knows this fact.

"What about my friends?" the boy asks.

While she talks about the frozen frogs in the nearby swamp, I savor my first enjoyable meal in a while. Still eating, I eventually tune back into their conversation.

"You're insane aren't you?" the boy asks her, and in my head, I silently nod

"That's right." Hmm…so she admits it… "Well, don't stand there all day. Go!" I hear a splat, and raise my head in time to see the boy run out.

Then, it dawns on me; why the arrow seemed so familiar. I remember talking with the Air Nomad monks and with the previous Avatars about this. The arrows were tattooed to the bodies of airbenders; all of the Air Nomads died in the Fire Nation attacks a decade ago, except for one, who was also the current avatar; therefore, the boy who was just in here was the Avatar, and the last airbender.

"Hmm…nice boy," she grins. I give her a look. Did she not realize that she may have helped free the world from Fire Nation oppression?

Still, I think, licking the last traces of plum blossom from around my lips, living here, with her, I have access to decent food. I have a beautiful shelter, and I am in an excellent position of observation. Also, I am more than sure that I am loved. Perhaps, I think, living here with her is not so bad after all.

* * *

So? I will not ask you to be kind, seeing as I like criticism (it helps me improve), but this is my first time writing in an entire year…whoa!

Yeah, so Review Please!

Regards,

Lola the Coconut


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